Breeding Boxes / Nesting Boxes

I have decided to put in the nesting boxes much the same time as last year. 

Due to the loss of my female Princess Parrot I shifted the male Princess Parrot into the grass bird aviary, this has afforded me the room to shift "Turk" my spare Indian Ringneck male to a separate section of the aviary to insure he is not related to the offspring of "Nippet" and "Nelly". This will allow me to pare him a young female.

I have used the same box as last year with non toxic wood shavings. They have already emptied some of the shaving onto the ground.

I placed two medium boxes in the grass bird aviary with parrot nesting material although I only have the one pair of Bourke Parrots in the aviary I believe it is beneficial to provide a choice of nesting place. I will introduce the finch box for the Gouldian Finches soon as well.

As usual the nesting box remains in the Green Cheeked Conures cage as it a roosting spot. I will provide a fresh branch in the coming weeks to provide cover for the entrance as I believe this was my good luck charm last year.

Cat Trap

After the upsetting loss of couple more of my birds including my female Princess Parrot which got sick and died a few day latter (also I believe as a result of cat attack). I have deiced to invest in a trap.

I have been using sardines to bait the trap, well just putting them in the trap to get the cat used to entering the trap without fear. The trap has had the sardines removed every second night and have set it only once which ended up catching my dog Leroy the following morning.

Roosters!!!

My bantam Rhode Island Red chicks both turned out to be roosters, they seemed to both change over night with development in crest and of course crowing. My first rooster started crowing and after looking at him I was pretty sure that the other was a hen but after getting rid of him within a few days the next one had started crowing as well.

I got rid of both roosters to keep the neighbours from getting upset, I have a fairly noisy hobby and I don't want to push the boundaries. The hens have started laying eggs and the chooks have provided good management of dropped seed and vegetable matter from the parrots as I alternate from section to section. They have also become an alarm sometimes for the cat...

Killer Revealed

I believe I have found what has been killing my birds. Last night I let the dogs outside to go to the toilet and they went flying down to aviary to chase away a cat. While down there I could pat one of my Scarlet Chested females on the chest as she was perched up against the wire, the cat could have easily killed it if it had good access.

It makes sense as the cat would have poor access to my other aviary. The Green Cheeked Conures sleep in there breeding box and there is no real way for a cat to get at the Princess and Indian Ring Neck Parrots.

My suspicions have been confirmed. I will be lodging a complain to council.

Bird Temperament

Most of the birds are getting more and more used to my presence in the aviary and are generally allowing me to get much closer. In the case of the Princess Parrots I can now feed them by hand if they are due for seed, I look forward to building this relationship with them and perhaps even getting them to start sitting on my hand.

Scarlet Chested Parrot Mortality

My trouble continues losing both my male Scarlet Chested parrots within a week of each other!!

I'm at a loss to explain the deaths so I have decided to removed all birds from the aviary and fully strip out and clean the cage.

My top theory was a local cat that is hanging around the house is killing the birds. It has poor access to the yard during the day with the dogs patrolling but easy could get close access during the night when then birds are easily sneaked up on and sleep very close to the edge of the cage.

After cleaning out the cage I found a large spider with a white tip on it abdomen living behind there feeder. I'm unsure if a spider will bite or could kill a bird but it would explain a lot if it could. I would suspect that most birds would have a natural immunity to spider bites due to the fact that most places they choose to nest in the wild are frequented by spiders but I'm unsure and finding hard to find information on it. 

These are healthy birds, it is very frustrating.

Nowra Bird Sale

I attended Nowra bird sale again this year with so many great birds and mutations. It is a awesome event but I just wish it was in a bigger venue (so crowded and hot). I recommend early start if your after something in particular or late if your after a bargain.

I didn't get many pictures due my one and half year old son wanting to be attached to me the whole time but I did manage to pick up what I was after (bird carrying box). I also resisted the urge to purchase any new additions for my aviary.

Scarlet Chested Parrot Mortality

I have had one of this season young Scarlet Chested females die recently. I'm really concerned about the high mortality rate especially amongst my Scarlet Chested Parrots. This particular bird looked particularly healthy and in good feather, the only abnormal thing I observed is that lower part of the beak was further out than the upper, something that I certainly had not notice before hand.

I'm going to do some research into this, I know they are not as hardy as some of my other parrots but the rate of loss I'm experiencing lately should not be so high.

My wife has burrowed a friends digital SLR camera, allowing me to get great high resolution images of my birds (see the side of my blog) which has been awesome.

I'm going to the Nowra bird sale next weekend which should be awesome. I'm planning to purchase a carrying box and I'll try and sneak in some pictures for this blog.

Leg Bands / Leg Rings

I have decided to leg band my birds. It is getting to the stage were I need to easily determine parents from young birds and in the case of my Green Cheeked Conures be able determine the sex of the birds which I will be able to do after they sit again.

Two of my birds already have rings, my female Indian Ringneck has a numbered metal ring and my newest male Scarlet Chested Parrot has a blue plastic band. I have not been able to locate a supplier of metal rings that doesn't require a minimum order of a size and I need three different sizes. I would probably spend $100 on rings and have a lot of left overs. So plastic bands it is for now.

I will probably do all my birds in stages to avoid upsetting them two much.

I have managed to band all my birds, however three of the bird were able to remove the bands soon after I put them on. The Green Cheeked Conure's being the worst as they both removed there bands quickly and they were one of the main species that I wanted to band to allow me to easily determine parent from offspring.

Most of the birds chewed at the bands until they got used to them.

Nesting Box - Scarlet Chested Parrot

Based on some advice from a breeder that I purchased my last Scarlet Chested Parrot from I'm going to make some changes to breeding or nesting box.

1. Size - I'm going to use a larger box. I have noticed that both the Scarlet Chested and Bourke parrots prefer the larger parrot box that I have been putting in with the smaller budgie sized boxes, often getting two females nesting in the same box. I have purchased two boxes between the budgie and the bigger sized box.

I have been advised that the male and female Scarlet Chested Parrot can quarrel inside the box causing concussion of the female if the box if it is two small. I have witnessed spots of blood on the inside of boxes in the past and could also explain the poor feather condition of male females during breeding season.

2. Material - To date I have been using non toxic saw dust. I have decided on advice to go for parrot nesting material that is a blackish colour and largely made of peat, I believe.

I this case I have been advised that saw dust can cause a lung condition in smaller parrots and finches. I have yet to find any contributing evidence though.

The range of materials able to be used can vary greatly from saw dust, straw, wood chips, twigs, dried grass, shredded new paper to hessian.